Workers' Revolt in Bosnia - discussion thread

[DOOM]

Let's hope they'll make something out of it :)

Gxm6t-CZh6M
https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc3/t1/1604580_10152224751773834_2060696387_n.jpg
https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/t1/1546325_10152224733613834_1399383127_n.jpg
https://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn2/t1/1779666_10152224564028834_986385034_n.jpg
https://scontent-b-fra.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-frc3/t1/1656183_10152224565473834_547055306_n.jpg
https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/t1/1656246_10152224540878834_1824729658_n.jpg
https://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/t1/1004714_10152224539658834_186570375_n.jpg

And..
https://scontent-a-fra.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-frc1/t1/1901695_10152224540018834_688619395_n.jpg
:D

[Rosa Partizan]

Dude, this would be great, but I kinda doubt it. I suppose it will be as it was with this JMBG protests....this would only work out if all citizens unite, but it will be ethically divided, as it is every time. This division weakens every kind of protest.

[DOOM]

Dude, this would be great, but I kinda doubt it. I suppose it will be as it was with this JMBG protests....this would only work out if all citizens unite, but it will be ethically divided, as it is every time. This division weakens every kind of protest.
Uh, like in the JMBG protests. I fucking raged when the RS government recomnended their citizens not to participate at the protests, because the protests were "against the Republika Srpska". It was such a disappointment.

[Rosa Partizan]

Everything was a disappointment about it. You know what this douchebag Izetbegovic told the people? That they stop protesting and go away :laugh: well, um, well yeah, well...no :glare: people need to start electing multiethnic parties, like Tanovics nasa stranka or this new one by Komsic....however, I don't know how these would develop when they got power. I mean, in their current position it's easy to claim that they would be comitted for citizens of all ethnic backgrounds.

[DOOM]

Everything was a disappointment about it. You know what this douchebag Izetbegovic told the people? That they stop protesting and go away :laugh: well, um, well yeah, well...no :glare: people need to start electing multiethnic parties, like Tanovics nasa stranka or this new one by Komsic....however, I don't know how these would develop when they got power. I mean, in their current position it's easy to claim that they would be comitted for citizens of all ethnic backgrounds.

Yeah I remember that, what a fucking douche :D
I don't believe any party will change anything. But electing multiethnic parties would sure show that the Bosnian people are becoming less nationalistic, which is generally said a good thing.

[Rosa Partizan]

so if you say, no party will change anything, what would be the right thing to do, taking into account that Dayton is an unchangeable reality?

[DOOM]

so if you say, no party will change anything, what would be the right thing to do, taking into account that Dayton is an unchangeable reality?

Nah, people taking to the streets to protest will change something. We can't hope that party xy will change anything, when it gets big in z years. The bigger the parties, the more corrupt they are. Especially in Bosnia.

[DOOM]

The protests didn't even start and still there are more than 8000 protesters are in front of the city hall.
It seems like the protests are spreading across Bosnia.

[Milan_Suvajac]

Well I am from Bosnia, and I still doubt that this will change anything tbh.

[DOOM]

Well I am from Bosnia, and I still doubt that this will change anything tbh.

Really?
Iz kojeg si grada?

[Rosa Partizan]

kladim se ja kistru pive da je iz RS-e.

[DOOM]

kladim se ja kistru pive da je iz RS-e.

Sta to ima veze, i u Prijedoru su bili demonstracije.

[Rosa Partizan]

znas ti sam da je u FBiHu pocelo, i bilo je manje podrzavanja iz RS-e za onu JMBG-stvar. Nekako dosta njih mozda misle da je cilj neka Islamska Republika ili neko sranje, ne'am pojma sta im je.

[Eniac]

Ma ne treba nikakva partija, treba nekakvo revolucionarno tijelo koje ce uspjet koordinirat prosvjede u revoluciju, pa da se i uokolo proširi. Ovo su već drugi veći prosvjedi u kratkom roku, samo se treba organizirat!

[Rosa Partizan]

procitala sam da ce u Tuzli (ili je bio Prijedor?) policija ucestvovati u protestima. Jebes mi mater ako to nisu suplje price, ali bilo bih odlicno, jer policija je jedina koja brani tu politicku gamad. Ipak, mora se i dodati da narod bira tu gamad. SDA zna dobiti daleko vise od 30% glasova, i slicne rezultate imaju druge nacionalisticke stranke. Ne znam sto im to treba da biraju iste stranke vise od 20 godina. Ljudi moraju naci neke kompromise. Bosnjaci hoce da se RS ukine i protestuju sa starom ljiljanskom zastavom. Kontam da je to za njih potrebno, ali to nije vala privlacno za Srbe i Hrvate. Mora se biti malo realisticniji, RS ce i dalje postojati i s tim se mora nekako aranzirati, nema sta. A i vala Srbi i Hrvati u BiHu imaju dosta svojih mana, necu se sad o tim istresati, ali jednostavno svak radi svoj (etnicki) posao i zato ih politicari jebu u dupe ima dvoje desetljece. Oprosti mi moj ne 100% ispravan Bosanksi, zivim u Njemackoj vec 22 godine.

[Milan_Suvajac]

Da jesam iz BL, zato i govorim zato što je takva svijest upravo na ovoj strani prisutna da ljudi jednostavno to ne podržavaju, iz nekih drugih razloga..

[DOOM]

Ja sam danas vrlo sentimentalno dozivio, dakle u istom parku, iz kog sam kao pripadnik specijalne policije sprijecio ulazak agresorski snaga i zauzimanje predsjedistva bosne i hercegovine, danas sam docekao da iz tog istog parka pojedinci od 17, 18 godina kamenjem i jajima napadaju zgradu u kojoj ja sjedim oznacavajuci to kao neki izraz demokratije. To nije to
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GbANP4o2o4
He's basically comparing the protesters to the Army of the Republika Srpska, which tried to capture the parliament in the war.
What a fucking prick!

[Eniac]

This should be turned into a newswire thread!
Are you folks going to the protests today? Do report what is happening. Thanks

[Thirsty Crow]

People I suggest we take this also to the zapadni balkan sub-forum and leave the posts here only in English.

From what I can gather, the demonstrations have spread like wildfire, though I'm not aware whether Republika Srpska has gone out en masse into the streets (for obvious reasons of ethnic and national tensions which could put a lid on this development, I'm mostly curious about that). Another thing that needs to be stated is that this has from the very start been a class issue, a struggle with a working class content, though it remains to be seen which direction it will go in.

[Thirsty Crow]

An as of yet unconfirmed bit of info from the facebook group - people claim workers walking out of workplaces and joining the demonstrations. And, apparently, a small number of cops also went on strike.

[Thirsty Crow]

The regional government building in Tuzla is occupied. Shit's being trashed in an epic manner. I'll post pics sometime later.
EDIT: for those of you using facebook: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=487495144694434&set=a.486758234768125.1073741828.486748144769134&type=1&theater

(the graffiti on the building reads "resignations everybody, death to nationalism")

[Zukunftsmusik]

People I suggest we take this also to the zapadni balkan sub-forum and leave the posts here only in English.

From what I can gather, the demonstrations have spread like wildfire, though I'm not aware whether Republika Srpska has gone out en masse into the streets (for obvious reasons of ethnic and national tensions which could put a lid on this development, I'm mostly curious about that). Another thing that needs to be stated is that this has from the very start been a class issue, a struggle with a working class content, though it remains to be seen which direction it will go in.

I haven't heard about these protests at all. What sparked the protests and what are they for/against/demanding?

[Thirsty Crow]

I haven't heard about these protests at all. What sparked the protests and what are they for/against/demanding?
The first demonstration was organized by unionists and workers from 5 factories in Tuzla, and demands orbited the issues of one year (!!!) worth of wages not being paid, benefits issues, the manipulations with regard to factories and workplace closures, and unemployment and general lack of prospects for any kind of a decent life. From the very start of organizing the demo the unionists and workers appealed to the unemployed and other people to come out and support them. Things spiraled out of control very fast as cops proved their usefulness in beating folks, and demos also spread throughout the country (though I'm not so sure if all regions did go out).

The issue of demands is not so clear cut now as proles simply seem to be erupting in anger at...well, pretty much every fucking thing, with the most important point of address being the political stratum of the ruling class (e.g. to secure those unpaid wages, I think, benefits, and so on; I think the general perspective is that of tumultuous rage against the political establishment which is seen as complicit in such gross exploitation by capital).

[DOOM]

https://scontent-a-fra.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-frc3/t1/1797469_10203141996974760_1933188728_n.jpg
https://scontent-a-fra.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/t1/1622751_10203141958693803_711993472_n.jpg
"death to nationalism"
https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc3/t1/1901978_401641979979985_625141717_n.jpg
In Zenica
https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/t1/1014420_271591246337188_983586991_n.jpg
In Kljuc
https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn2/t1/1796654_1378353475766260_1523161710_n.jpg
Don't panic, we will execute'm all



I can't believe it yet, this is amazing. I've waited for this moment so long.
And now it's happening

[Eniac]

News report of massive carnage in Tuzla, the government building is on fire, and if I am not mistaken these are the first big proletarian protests in territories of ex yu, which is awesome. I've read that smaller gatherings have appeared even in RS.
This is basically it what i can find in the papers, the situation is bloody intense! Will update

Keep up the good work, držite se, smrt fašizmu!

[Eniac]

Tuzla
- things are still intense protesters are winning, but hear this
Sarajevo, the capital
- massive collision of protesters and police
- police is firing rubber bullets, protesters are throwing stones in return
- canton government building in flames, firemen are not allowed through by the people
- protesters have the upper hand
Bihać
- canton government evacuated, several policemen hurt
- protesters trying to break into the building
Brčko
- mayor literally captured, special police coming to rescue him
Doboj and Zenica
I'm getting mixed info some say only a few protesters but others report of troubles.

Whole of Bosnia is on its feet and I have to say that things are looking great.

Now if workers organisations would properly step into the game and lead the charge it could be even better

[Milan_Suvajac]

We need that Vanguard party immediately.

[Eniac]

Not many news
Around 16h protest started in Mostar, and now the canton government building is also in flames.
Some protests have already been announced for Monday.

[DOOM]

What, Monday?
Why not tomorrow?
Ajajaj jesu lijeni..

[MaximMK]

Im very happy and excited about this :D I hope some radical leftist communist organisation ( vanguard party or however u wanna call it ) uses this opportunity and organizes the protests giving them purpose so it doesn't just end after several days of rioting in new elections and the same political system after they satisfy their rage.

[Rosa Partizan]

wtf Monday, this mustn't be discontinued. not even for 2 days. So much energy and enthusiasm would just go down the drain, jebo ih patak.

[MaximMK]

Indeed if they dont organize in a political purpose to change the system they will make no real change. So many protests like these end up with just change of government and still keeping capitalism they must be organized and demand a different thing.

[Eniac]

I do not know, I may have misunderstood something, protest could continue through the weekend in bigger towns, I just know that some have already been announced. I am writing on a touch screen currently, will continue to update and summarise the events of the day later on.

Also I agree with maxim, this must not end in just a change of personell..

[DOOM]

Prosvjednici se spremaju za napad policije jer se pročulo da će stići pomoć od MUP-a RS-a. Prave barikade.
:laugh::laugh:
The serbian police is going to help the Bosniak-Croatian police.

[Rosa Partizan]

:laugh::laugh:
The serbian police is going to help the Bosniak-Croatian police.

Oh my God, I'd totally fap to that.

You could post some pictures here from this FB-Group. Actually, I'd do it, but I won't be online this evening.

[Yugo45]

The seat of Sarajevo Canton has been completely burned down:
http://static.klix.ba/media/images/vijesti/140207060.122_xl.jpg
http://static.klix.ba/media/images/vijesti/140207060.126_xl.jpg
http://static.klix.ba/media/images/vijesti/140207060.111_xl.jpg

Seat of Herzegovina-Neretva Canton (in Mostar):
http://static.klix.ba/media/images/vijesti/140207091.9_xl.jpg

Seat of Tuzla Canton:
http://static.klix.ba/media/images/vijesti/140207061.20_xl.jpg

Seat of Tuzla municipality:
http://static.klix.ba/media/images/vijesti/140207061.28_xl.jpg

I feel a bit conflicted about all this destroying of public property. In the end it will all come out of our pockets. Burning private property of the politicians, now that would be a good thing to do.

Also I am 100% sure that the end result will only be a change of personnel as Eniac put it. But eh what can you do. There is no unified organization behind the protests. No single set of goals. It's as spontaneous as it gets. In a few days it will be over and nothing will change for the better.

Of course, a message has been sent, but we were already knee deep in shit so I am not sure what good that will do.

[Thirsty Crow]

Indeed if they dont organize in a political purpose to change the system they will make no real change. So many protests like these end up with just change of government and still keeping capitalism they must be organized and demand a different thing.
1. It would be completely nonsensical to demand "a different thing" in this sense

2. It is of course not the purpose of this struggle to get rid of capital; you cannot impose this viewpoint and assess the struggle from this angle alone

3. As far as demands go, again it is one sided to focus on enacted change in legislation alone; for instance, as far as I'm aware, the union reps have met up with the government officials, and in conjunction with shit getting trashed, this can indicate the real possibility of the original demands by the workers being met.

It all boils down to what I think are two complementary but equally mistaken approaches: one that revels in violence and imagines a revolutionary fervent around the corner, and the other that states that spontaneous eruptions don't have any significance nor any kind of effective influence.

[Yugo45]

Okay, I just found out that stupid kids that don't even know what the protest is about (average age 14-16, with their main chant being "KILL KILL KILL FAGS") have burned down the historical archive. Not too happy about that. Glad I left it before it turned into bored kids pushing random cars into the river.

[Eniac]

To summarize today's happenings:

Main events were played in Tuzla, and Sarajevo, but protests and riots occurred throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Protesters started gathering between 12 and 13 hours. Soon chaos and carnage were unleashed. Multiple government buildings were set on fire in both in Sarajevo and Tuzla, and in Mostar, and in other places there was devastation of public buildings too. Unfortunately the archive in Sarajevo was hurt in the fire as well, the damage is inestimable.

Protesters and police have been fighting on multiple occasions, and in Sarajevo the police actually laid their equipment down and surrendered, and solidarized with the protesters.

Things cooled down around 19:00. We shall see what goes next.

No sign of any organization amongst the protesters which could be harmful long-term, unions sat down with government to negotiate something, but I don't see actual demands in these riots. Someone has to step up, and lead this into something constructive, or it will just become another pointless devastation of public property.
I suppose if the protests continue a little longerthey might spread over the borders of BiH. Also as many have noted before, ruining public property will just come back right at the people and hit their pockets hard, I suggest ruining banks, and profiteers of war!
These riots have great potential to actually make a change.
AJMO BOSNA JEBITE IM MATER!!!

[Yugo45]

and in Sarajevo the police actually laid their equipment down and surrendered, and solidarized with the protesters

Hmm where did you get this information from? If anything, the fighting with cops has been the most brutal in Sarajevo. There has been a few cases in Tuzla and Zenica where some cops laid down their shields and helmets (like here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzxJtoSzFTE), but I didn't hear about such cases here.

[Eniac]

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151828596055964&set=vb.129765415963&type=2&theater

is this not in Sarajevo? If not, my mistake, still yet there have been multiple cases throughout BiH, which is fabulous, because once the police is on the people's side, there is no one to protect the rotten bastards

[DOOM]

No it's in Tuzla.
Pseudo-pacifists are crying because of the "vandalism" and are demanding the stop of the "revolution".
Ne svidja mi se ovo ni malo..

[human strike]

https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn2/t1/1796654_1378353475766260_1523161710_n.jpg
Don't panic, we will execute'm all

Apparently this is an old photo?

[Rosa Partizan]

I don't know how old it is, but why do you think it's old? Because of the star?

[human strike]

I don't know how old it is, but why do you think it's old? Because of the star?

A comrade in Serbia told me it's old and possibly from Croatia.

[Rosa Partizan]

I've seen this picture in a bigger context somewhere else, I guess Biazed can find it, maybe this helps.

Biazed I need you!!!! :mad:

[Yugo45]

It's at least 5 years old:
http://inicijativa.org/tiki/tiki-browse_image.php?imageId=1028

[DOOM]

Uh, didn't know.
I'm sorry :D
Jeste'l vidili budala, hoce cistiti ulice :laugh:

[ckaihatsu]

Dramatic footage - Bosnia govt building on fire as protesters express their joy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHT8w2XWTB8


Bosnia rocked by third day of anti-government unrest

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xit5WNH6AF0


Protests turn violent in Bosnia

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfBsbsqr_k4


Factory closures trigger clashes in Bosnia

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2pPt82BPrE

[DOOM]

High representative Inzko is thinking about sending Eufor Troops to Bosnia.
fuck

[Sasha]

It's spring at last in Bosnia and Herzegovina




An anti-privatisation protest in the city of Tuzla has exploded into general social insurrection.


Last updated: 09 Feb 2014 12:29


http://www.aljazeera.com/mritems/images/2014/2/9//20142961515971734_20.jpg Protests erupted in the town of Tuzla over high unemployment and corrupt privatisation practices [AFP/Getty Images]


Whatever little semblance of legitimacy the constitutional order in Bosnia-Herzegovina (BiH) may have enjoyed at the beginning of this week went up in flames on Friday night. BiH's three Presidents, two entities, one special district, ten cantons and internationally appointed High Representative - the entirety of its bloated bureaucracy - witnessed the storming of their government offices in the cities of Tuzla, Sarajevo, Zenica, Bihac and Mostar.
As a result, at least two regional governments have collapsed, in the Tuzla and Zenica-Doboj cantons. What began as a local, anti-privatisation protest on Wednesday in Tuzla had grown by Friday into a general social insurrection.
Two years ago, I wrote (http://www.transconflict.com/2012/05/a-new-narrative-why-a-bosnian-spring-is-bosnias-only-hope-305/) that a "Bosnian Spring" was this country's only hope for a brighter future. Now, the spring has come, and with it, the storms.
For nearly twenty years, Bosnians and Herzegovinians have suffered under the administration of a vicious cabal of political oligarchs who have used ethno-nationalist rhetoric to obscure the plunder of BiH's public coffers. The official unemployment rate has remained frozen for years at around 40 (http://www.tradingeconomics.com/bosnia-and-herzegovina/unemployment-rate) percent, while the number is above 57 percent among youth (http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2013/02/14/improving-opportunities-young-people-Bosnia-Herzegovina). Shady privatisation schemes have dismantled (http://www.rosalux.rs/userfiles/files/Emin%20Eminagic_Tuzla%20protests.pdf) what were once flourishing industries in Tuzla and Zenica, sold them off for parts, and left thousands of workers destitute, with many still owed thousands of dollars in back-pay. Pensions are miserly too; the sight of seniors digging through waste bins (http://www.slobodnaevropa.org/content/vecina-penzionera-na-ivici-siromatva/24719687.html) is a regular one in every part of the country, while the wages of BiH's armies of bureaucrats and elected officials have only grown (http://www.vijesti.me/svijet/afera-bih-plate-politicara-bezobrazno-visoke-clanak-168641)[Sr].
[B]Pervasive corruption
After the general elections in 2010, it took sixteen months (http://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/feb/10/bosnia-approves-new-central-government) for a state government to be formed, one which collapsed almost immediately thereafter. Since then, on the rare occasion that Parliamentary sessions have actually been held, the members of this body have mostly concerned themselves with calling for the ouster of their political opponents. ZivkoBudimir, for instance, the president of the Federation entity, was arrested in April of last year (http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/bosnia-s-police-arrests-federation-president-budimir) on suspicions of corruption and bribery. He was released shortly thereafter for "lack of evidence" and has since returned to his post. As Sarajevo burnt on Friday, Budimir declared (http://balkans.aljazeera.net/video/protesti-u-bih-budimir-pozvao-na-smirivanje-situacije)[Sr/Ba/Hr] that he would resign if the people insisted - apparently refusing to look out his window as he spoke.


Al Jazeera World - Sarajevo My Love
Several major elected official (http://www.slobodnaevropa.org/content/bih-iscrpljena-korupcijom/24613483.html) in BiH have been under investigation for corruption. In the Federation, the squabbling of Bosniak and Croat nationalists has immobilised government institutions. In the Republika Srpska(RS) entity, President Milorad Dodik has attempted to make himself synonymous with the Serb nation itself - hounding the few independent journalists and activists who dared challenge him (http://www.freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-press/2013/bosnia-and-herzegovina).
But the ethno-nationalist rhetoric of these elites betrays the realities of BiH's true political economy: accumulation through dispossession. The graffiti on the walls of the burnt out husk of the Tuzla canton government now offers a stark rebuke to these policies: "You must all resign! Death to nationalism!"
The international community has, meanwhile, allowed this sordid state of affairs to fester since the signing of the Dayton Peace Accords in 1995. An initial period of reform between 1996 and 2006 has all but completely ceased and since then the country has jerked from one constitutional crisis (http://www.economist.com/blogs/easternapproaches/2013/10/bosnia) to the next. All the while, seething public anger has repeatedly threatened to boil over, as it did this past summer during the so-called "Baby Revolution (http://stream.aljazeera.com/story/201306122003-0022824)".
The reasons for this rage are simple: At no point have the international architects of peace in BiH expended any serious energy to include ordinary citizens, students, workers or pensioners in the reforms which European and American diplomats insist the country requires. Instead, by engaging exclusively with members of BiH's obstructionist and recalcitrant political establishment, they have only cemented the oligarchs in their posts while the pleas and demands of ordinary citizens, students, workers and civil rights activists have been ignored.
A transformed society
Now, the entire structure of the Dayton system, precisely because of the arrogant and ignorant practices of its local and international representatives, has all but collapsed in a single night. Attempts to shore up this system will be made, of course, but the psychological transformation we have witnessed in the people of BiH is now irreversible.


Talk to Al Jazeera - Is another conflict looming in the Balkans?
A substantive parliamentary democracy fundamentally requires the autonomy of the citizenry and the expectation on the part of the ruling establishment that, unless they fulfil the needs and demands of their electors, they will be toppled - at the polls or in the streets. For twenty years this expectation has been absent in BiH. And for twenty years the ruling establishment has plundered freely. They have wrought so much misery that the speed with which the entire structure appeared to collapse on Friday left many citizens in utter disbelief.
In this mayhem, no small degree of confusion and fear will prevail. Many have already expressed anger towards the militants who torched the government buildings, claiming that the costs of the repairs will once again come out of the pockets of ordinary citizens. Such analysis, however, ignores the far more massive debts already incurred by all levels of government in BiH.
The Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PAIC), noted that the public sector debt with commercial banks doubled in the past four years and that: "A big part of corrupted activities stem from relations of government officials and commercial banks." The PAIC report suggested that the billions that have been borrowed (http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/bosnia-grows-indebtedness-analysts-say) have mostly ended up lining the pockets of individual politicians,they are, nonetheless, being paid back through the further gutting of BiH's few remaining social services. This popular uprising, however, has the potential to reverse this course.
There is also news of damage to part of the National Archives, rightfully eliciting anger in some quarters. Yet the National Museum of BiH has sat closed since October of 2012 (http://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/oct/03/bosnia-national-museum-funding-crisis) and the country's other main cultural institutions are also struggling, to the dismay of a global network of activists and artists (http://www.cultureshutdown.net/). Despite the existence of four separate levels of government, not one of them considers the preservation and financing of BiH's cultural monuments a priority. An institution that has survived three wars and has been operated continuously for a hundred and twenty four years is on the brink of collapse, not because of these protests, but because of these governments.
In the next few days, BiH will find itself a society transformed. Genuine change will require that those who have previously been excluded from power now have an opportunity to reshape their communities. The key organisers in Tuzla - more effective and popular than the current leaders, if this week's events are any indication - already form the basis for an interim government (http://www.klix.ba/vijesti/bih/demonstranti-iz-tuzle-iznijeli-svoje-zahtjeve/140208001), one composed of the representatives of students and workers (http://www.jasminmujanovic.com/1/post/2014/02/the-demands-of-the-people-of-tuzla-sarajevo-english.html). Elsewhere, the situation is still evolving, but all foreseeable solutions include the same first step: The existing authorities must step down.
More broadly, there seems to be widespread support for the abolition or, at least, the reorganisation of the cantons: in short, a rationalisation of the state apparatus. The protestors realise that the country's dire economic situation is not merely the result of corrupt officials, but rather of the constitutional order itself. The changes they demand likewise address the system directly.
The fury on display in the streets of BiH over the past few days was an ugly sight. But what is still more hideous has been the past twenty years of corruption, thieving and manipulating on the part of the entirety of the BiH political establishment. Already, they have attempted to deny any personal responsibility and to offer duplicitous temporary solutions. It is much too late for them.
For the people of BiH, however, this is merely the beginning. Tumultuous days are no doubt ahead, but as long as the citizens of this little land do not forget the fear they inspired in their rulers tonight and continue to press their demands, together, they may yet usher in a truly democratic Spring.
[B]Jasmin Mujanovic (http://www.jasminmujanovic.com/) is a PhD candidate at York University and currently a Visiting Scholar at the Harriman Institute at Columbia University. Originally from Sarajevo, he is a regular Balkan affairs analyst. His Twitter handle is @JasminMuj (https://twitter.com/JasminMuj).
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera's editorial policy.

source; http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2014/02/it-spring-at-last-bosnia-herzegov-2014296537898443.html

[Prometeo liberado]

Reminds me of the song from The Playwrites: "I'ts springtime for Hitler and Germany, it's time for the Third Reich to begin".:grin:

[ckaihatsu]

Bosnia - counting the cost of three days of violent protests

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSjDyRGfUTM


Sarajevo hoses down following night riots

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8n65V7NgFQ


Bosnia - violent protests 'worst unrest' since war

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttinlDgCnFg


Video - Protesters clash with police, set govt buildings ablaze in Bosnia

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Th8ptZkp-cQ


Bosnia violent protests spread

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-4ur2PcvvU


Violence spreads in Bosnia-Hercegovina

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMx6DAiFlz8

[fractal-vortex]

There is a similarity in situation between Bosnia and Herzegovian and Ukraine. In both countries the people arise against corrupt politicians. However, in Ukraine, they are under the leadership of nationalists (:() Who leads the protests in Bosnia and Herzegovina?

[Eleutheromaniac]

Who leads the protests in Bosnia and Herzegovina?

Well, something like 10,000 factory workers started the protests in Tuzla due to closings and lack of pay, which they blamed on privatization efforts. The Dayton agreement is really responsible for the over-bureaucratization of BiH. The movement is not exclusive to the Croat, Muslim part of Bosnia, as it has also spread to the Serbian Republic. Therefore, one could argue, that protests transcend ethnicity, and rallying the masses in a common cause.

However, I'm reluctant to call this a true class-based movement, as nationalist groups could try to rally certain groups, so it's still to early to tell.

That's my take on things. I hope that somewhat answers your question.

[ckaihatsu]

Sarajevo rocked by fifth day of anti-government unrest

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7P-FjsqqiHg

[Zukunftsmusik]

However, I'm reluctant to call this a true class-based movement, as nationalist groups could try to rally certain groups, so it's still to early to tell.

Doesn't this contradict your reluctance? Nationalist groups aren't yet on the scene, in fact anti-nationalist slogans seems to have been quite present in the protests. The demands put forward by the protesters also implies a pretty "class conscious" mass of protesters, too. From my limited knowledge, anyway.

[Zukunftsmusik]

Someone in the comment section to a (disappointingly) short text about this on libcom posted a set of demands put forward by the workers and protesters, citing a broken link as a source. Could anyone verify this?


Today in Tuzla a new future is created! The government has submitted his resignation, which was the first demand of the demonstrators and thus creates conditions for further solving of the existing problems and the fulfillment of the rest of the workers’ demands.
Accumulated anger and rage are causes of the violent behavior. The attitude of the authorities has led to the fact that the situation in Tuzla escalated. Now, in this new situation, we have to focus this anger and rage on building a productive and useful system of government.

We invite all citizens to support the implementation of these demands:

1. Maintaining public order in cooperation of citizens, police and the civil protection, to avoid any criminalization, politicization and manipulation of any protests.

2. Establishing a technical government, made ​​up of professional, non-political party members, uncompromised people, who have not had a single mandate in any level of government, which would lead the Tuzla canton to the election of 2014. This Government shall have the duty to submit weekly plans and reports on the activities and achieve the given objectives. Work of the Government will be monitored by all interested citizens.

3. Resolve, by emergency procedure, the questions of regularity of the privatization of the following companies: “Dita”, “Polihem”, “Poliolhem”, “GUMARA” and “Konjuh”, and:

◦ bind the length of service and ensure health care for the workers;

◦ prosecute the economic criminals and all the actors who participated in it;

◦ seize illegally acquired assets;

◦ annul the privatization contracts;

◦ do a revision of privatization;

◦ return the factories to the workers and place them under the control of public authorities in order to safeguard the public interest, and start production in those factories where possible.

5. Balancing the salaries of government representatives to the salaries of employees in the public and private sectors.

6. Cancellation of additional payments to the representatives of government, as personal income, on the basis of participation in commissions, committees and other bodies, as well as other unreasonable and unjustified compensations that workers in the public and private sectors don’t have.

7. The abolition of wage to ministers and possibly other government officials, who are getting wage payments after the expiration or termination of their mandate.

This Proclamation is brought by the workers and citizens of Tuzla Canton, for the good of us all.

7th February of 2014

The libcom page. (http://libcom.org/news/protests-bosnia-07022014)

[Zukunftsmusik]

There's already a thread about this, btw

[DOOM]

Yeah it seems to be a legit translation, I just haven't found the original in bosnian yet, so I can't say that for sure.

[Durruti's friend]

So yesterday an open assembly (plenum) was arranged in Tuzla with the goal of discussing future moves and organizing protests. It seems to have been successful since another plenum took place today, with even more participants.

Links in Bosnian:

- "The Tuzla Workers' and Citizen's Plenary Assebly"
http://www.frontslobode.ba/vijesti/tuzla/8062/danas-u-1700-sati-plenum-radnika-i-gradana-tk

- http://www.frontslobode.ba/vijesti/drustvo/8174/u-toku-drugi-plenum-gradana-tuzlanskog-kantona

I also have some info on another plenum taking place in Sarajevo.

I don't know how this will end, it seems great for now but as far as I know the protests aren't quite organizationally coherent and unfortunately that usually leads to pacification.

[Le Socialiste]

There's already a thread about this, btw

Could you link me to it? I might be able to merge the two.

Here's an article that delves a little into the social and political forces involved in the uprising:


The revolt rocking Bosnia

BOSNIA IS burning. Over the past several days, tens of thousands of workers, students and citizens have taken to the streets across Bosnia and Herzegovina to call for the resignations of local and federal governments.

In one of the largest and most confident displays of civil resistance since the civil war of the early 1990s, demonstrators occupied streets and town squares; confronted riot police armed with batons, rubber bullets, tear gas and attack dogs; and destroyed the headquarters of local governments and the largest political parties.

The wave of protests, which are still expanding, have tapped deep into the contempt many in Bosnia feel towards the country's political class and have directed it into demands for a new form of government focused on reversing the trend of deindustrialization, economic collapse and unemployment.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

THE PROTESTS began on February 5 in the northern industrial town of Tuzla after a group of around 3,000 workers and their supporters occupied the streets surrounding the cantonal government to protest the privatization of local companies. According to reports, the demonstration turned violent after police deployed attack dogs, tear gas and indiscriminate beatings in an effort to disperse the crowd.

The following day, clashes erupted again as several thousand more citizens took to the streets to confront police and voice their support for the workers' demands. The government's resignation was added to the list of demands.

Public anger reached a new high on Friday 7 when demonstrators broke through police lines and ransacked the local government building, smashing computer monitors, throwing documents to the cheering crowds below and setting the structure ablaze. The same day, the local government resigned.

Far from disavowing the violence of the crowd, the workers of Tuzla defended it in their public statement--and said that the resignation of the government is only the first step in a much wider transformation of Bosnian society:

Accumulated anger and rage are the causes of aggressive behavior. The attitude of the authorities has created the conditions for anger and rage to escalate. Now, in this new situation, we wish to direct the anger and rage into the building of a productive and useful system of government.

The statement went on to outline several aims, including reversing the process of privatization, guaranteeing the rights of laid-off workers, forming a new government whose members should be subject to public scrutiny and who come from outside the existing political class, and leveling the salary of government employees to those of industrial workers.

Reacting to events in Tuzla, mass protests quickly spread to other regional centers in Bosnia and Herzegovina--Bihac, Zenica, Mostar and Sarajevo, as well as smaller towns throughout the country. These demonstrations displayed the same willingness to confront police, target the political elite and demand the formation of a new government whose key responsibility should be social and economic justice for the whole population.

In Sarajevo, thousands have occupied the central squares, fighting with police and attacking government buildings. In Mostar, a city still physically divided by the battle lines of the civil war, Croat and Bosniak Muslim protesters came together to attack the offices of their respective political parties. In the industrial town of Zenica, protesters set the local government headquarters ablaze.

While the Bosnian government, the international media and U.S. and European Union spokespeople have condemned the violence, the protesters are united in their defense of what they argue is a justifiable expression of anger. As a recent graffiti tag puts it: "He who sows hunger, reaps rage!"

On February 8, protesters gathered once again to begin to repair the destruction from the violence the day before. According to one protester quoted in the Independent: "Now we'll clean up this mess, like we'll clean up the politicians who made this happen."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

ONE OF the most striking dimensions of these protests has been the pronounced hostility toward local and federal government, and toward political parties across all ethnic and ideological divides. Not only have we seen protesters burning government and political party buildings and attacking the cars of government personnel, but they have unanimously called for the resignation of all current governments and the formation of new "non-party" governments.

In this sense, these protests need to be understood as an expression of what Elizabeth Humphreys and Tad Tietze identified as "anti-politics." Speaking of Russell Brand's call for revolution, they explain the term:

The starting point for understanding why Brand's intervention struck such a chord is the crisis of representation that leads most people to see politics as completely detached from their lives. Crucially, this detachment is not caused by the political class being less "representative" of their social base than in some previous era; rather, its lack of a social base makes the political class's actual role in representing the interests of the state within civil society more apparent.

This "crisis of representation" explains why the uprising in Bosnia and Herzegovina today has manifested itself as a general hostility to all forms of political society on offer. The protesters are targeting not the specific policy of a certain political faction, but the entirety of what they see as a cynical and self-serving elite, whose interests are entirely at odds with those of the population.

The anti-political vitriol we are seeing in the streets of Bosnia and Herzegovina today has its roots in the specific form of government enforced on the country at the end of the civil war in 1995.

From the period after the Second World War through the end of the 1980s, Bosnia and Herzegovina was one of six republics that made up Yugoslavia--one of the so-called "socialist" countries of Eastern Europe set up, with some exceptions, especially in Yugoslavia, on the model of the Stalinist system in the USSR. Yugoslavia was formally recognized as the homeland of three key national groups--Croats, Serbs and Muslims (known as Bosniaks).

With the onset of economic crisis and the rise of nationalism, Yugoslavia fragmented into its component parts. The battle over borders among the key national groups in Bosnia, Serbia and Croatia--and the political and diplomatic involvement of the U.S., Russia and the European powers--ensured that the break-up would not be a clean one.

Bosnia and Herzegovina was a flash point of the conflict. Between the years 1992 and 1995, forces representing different ethnic groups, including the Yugoslav National Army and paramilitary forces from Croatia and Serbia, fought a bloody war for control of Bosnia's territory, undertaking sieges of cities, carrying out waves of ethnic cleansing and even campaigns of genocide in an attempt to create ethnically homogeneous and contiguous territories.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

THE CIVIL war came to an end with the signing of the U.S.-brokered Dayton Accords in 1995. In an effort to satisfy the claims of rival forces, the peace negotiated between Croatian, Bosniak, Bosnian Serb and Serb representatives left a country divided into two entities: the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, made up of largely Croat and Bosniak populations, and the Serbian Republic, dominated by Bosnian Serbs.

If the civil war ruptured the national heterogeneity of Bosnia completely, Dayton continued the process by imposing a form of government organized around representation of ethnic communities. In the years since Dayton, complicated legal and political structures have been imposed within each of these entities in such a way as to entrench and reproduce the ethnic division of the country. Electoral politics has become merely an extension of this system of division, with political parties organized around their respective ethnic fiefdoms.

The political class of post-Dayton Bosnia, in other words, has thrived off the state's in-built divisions, seeing its structures as solidifying their social base and having enormous political investments in maintaining the status quo at the expense of the country's population.

Blogger Jasmin Mujanovic has summed up the explicitly anti-democratic nature of this state:

The present constitutional structure in [Bosnia and Herzegovina] has created essentially an apartheid state that has institutionalized formerly mythologized "ancient ethnic hatreds" and made them a reality. We have segregated schools which serve only to reproduce xenophobia and chauvinism, and a political establishment that profits from the reactionary squabbling which these ethnic-fiefdoms, these modern-day Bantustans engender.

The contemporary Bosnian state cannot even extend basic democratic rights to all of its citizens--only those belonging to the so-called "constitutive nations," and even then only those living the appropriately homogenous locales, can really secure some semblance of supposed representation.

This system of ethnic representation carries with it an unwieldy and expensive bureaucratic apparatus. The cost of running the Dayton state consumes around 66 percent of the country's budget, putting added pressure on an already crippled national economy. Furthermore, the complicated system of legal and political checks and balances offers enormous opportunities for individual representatives to block the effective running of the state. Members of parliament can stop or significantly hamper the passage of legislation if they feel it to be in the interests of their ethnic constituency to do so--another mechanism whereby ethnicity is engrained in the fabric of the state.

The result has been the emergence of a political culture in which the discourse of ethnic interests is cynically manipulated on an everyday basis and increasingly detached from the real concerns of the majority of citizens.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

IN THE past year, this system of representation has come under sustained protest by the population.

In June 2013, thousands of demonstrators took to the streets to force the political class to break a legislative deadlock that was having disastrous consequences. The deadlock concerned a new law governing the assignment of citizen ID numbers--while the political parties engaged in all manner of bureaucratic wrangling, newborn children failed to receive ID numbers. In effect, they were denied citizenship.

Anger erupted across the country when news emerged that children requiring advanced medical care in the EU could not leave Bosnia due to the government's inability to resolve the deadlock. The protests cut through the ethnic logic of the post-Dayton state. Across the divisions, thousands of people came out, calling for an immediate resolution of the issue--and to express their contempt for all the ruling politicians.

The events in June 2013 gave expression to a gradual but real realignment of the key social antagonisms in Bosnian and Herzegovinian society. From vertical antagonisms between rival ethnic groups cemented during the civil war and reproduced by Dayton, increasingly, we are seeing a horizontal antagonism between the Bosnian political elite and civil society.

The artist Damir Niksic has summed it up this way: "This is a new paradigm, a new Bosnian paradigm. In other words, we're no longer talking about ethnicities, tribes, races and nations. Now we are talking about the proletarians, the unemployed, the reserve army of labor."

There's more to the article, which can be found here (http://socialistworker.org/2014/02/11/the-revolt-rocking-bosnia). Don't know if this answered any of your questions, fractal-vortex - maybe it did. If anything, it delves into the composition of the protests, as well as their demands.

[Rosa Partizan]

for everyone with a fb-account, here are some pretty impressing pictures.

https://www.facebook.com/tomislav.surina.7/media_set?set=a.1394049457524039.1073741844.100007 569932519&type=1

[Zukunftsmusik]

Could you link me to it? I might be able to merge the two.

Here (http://www.revleft.com/vb/tuzla-bih-protests-t186840/index.html?p=2719976#post2719976)

[Ritzy Cat]

for everyone with a fb-account, here are some pretty impressing pictures.

https://www.facebook.com/tomislav.surina.7/media_set?set=a.1394049457524039.1073741844.100007 569932519&type=1

I just love the way they look at the police in the eyes...

[DOOM]

Could you link me to it? I might be able to merge the two.
http://www.revleft.com/vb/tuzla-bih-protests-t186840/index3.html

[Delenda Carthago]

Solidarity with the Bosnian people

on 10 February 2014. Posted in International relations (http://pamehellas.gr/index.php/en/secretariats-of-pame/international-relations)
Dear comrades,
PAME (All Workers Militant Front) expresses its solidarity with the Bosnian people struggling against the policies of unemployment, privatization and poverty for their rights to work, dignified livelihood, social security rights, health care.


PAME denounces the violent response of the government of Bosnia – Herzegovina and the riot police who attacked and injured hundreds of protestors.


The Executive Secretariat


http://pamehellas.gr/index.php/en/secretariats-of-pame/international-relations/3344-solidarity-with-the-bosnian-people

[ckaihatsu]

Unrest in Bosnia as protesters demand resignation of government

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RV-YhCKlAbI


Bosnia protesters demand snap elections after unprecedented street violence

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEz5SwyUVCs

[Sentinel]

Merged two threads on the same subject. Thread renamed into Workers' Revolt in Bosnia.

Edit, also: thread stickied

[Sentinel]

it is very pleasing to follow the developments of this so explicitly left wing, anti-nationalist etc protest movement. It already seems like 2014 has a good chance of becoming a by far better year for the workers movement than 2013 was!

It would be interesting to see as many perspectives on this as possible. Click 'show spoilers' or follow the link below to view an article by the CWI.

"Workers and socialists around the world salute the Bosnian workers and youth in their struggle against privatisation and corruption and for a better life. This struggle can only be consequently waged with the perspective of a break with capitalism and a struggle for socialist policies based on workers’ democracy. SOLIDARNOST I REVOLUJICA!"

New revolt of workers and unemployed - J. Hird, Socialismo Revolucionario (CWI in Spain), 10/02/2014 (http://www.socialistworld.net/doc/6652).


Bosnia

New revolt of workers and unemployed

10/02/2014
“I think this is a genuine Bosnian spring. We have nothing to lose...”

J. Hird, Socialismo Revolucionario (CWI in Spain)


Seething anger at the dire economic situation, political corruption, mass unemployment and poverty has boiled over in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In three days of lightening-speed struggle by workers and youth, the government has been shaken to its foundations.

DAY 1 Wednesday, February 5th

Laid-off workers from the privatised and now closed chemical works DITA, in northern Bosnia, and three other firms demonstrated. They accused the government of standing idly by as several state firms collapsed after privatisation.

“Elections will change nothing and only actions like this, and I’m afraid, even more radical actions, can force our politicians to step down,” said one protester.

Football fans joined the workers, as well as the unemployed. Stones were thrown and tyres set on fire. At least 20 people were injured and over 20 arrests made.

DAY 2 Thursday, February 6th

Workers continued to demonstrate in Tuzla. A ferocious battle took place as 130 people, including 104 police officers, were injured.

Teargas was used as thousands tried to storm government buildings in the town.

But Tuzla was only the spark which ignited deep discontent in the whole of Bosnia. Solidarity protests were held in the capital Sarajevo and the towns of Zenica, Bihac and Mostar.

Prime Minister Nermin Niksic held a security meeting and inevitably blamed hooligans for the unrest.

In reality, it was workers who led the way. The protesters were initially made up mainly of workers laid off when state-owned companies that were sold and then collapsed under private ownership. Later thousands of jobless people and youths joined in. Bosnia has an unemployment rate of 44% and one in five people are living below the poverty line. Even those in work are getting by on €250 - €450 a month. Many workers in DITA had not been paid for over two years!

"It was our government that sold state assets for peanuts and left the people without pensions, jobs or health insurance," said 24-year-old Hana Obradovic, an unemployed graduate from Sarajevo.

The government ordered schools to close on Friday.


DAY 3 Friday, February 7th

By Friday, protests had spread to over 30 cities in Bosnia and with it the anger at the corrupt politicians. Demonstrators set fire to government buildings in Sarajevo. One hundred and forty five people were injured in the capital, including 93 policemen.

Police used rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse protestors as demonstrators stormed a presidential office, which was set on fire.

In the ex-mining area of Zenica thousands demonstrated and 50 were wounded. Facebook was used to organise the protest. The people chanted: “Thieves!” and “Revolution!”

Sakib Kopic, one of the workers’ representatives, said they were "the people’s answer" to the government’s failure to address the ongoing economic decline.

"This is the shout of rage, hunger and hopelessness about the future that has accumulated for years since the conflict and is exploding right now," local newspaper Dnevni Avaz said in an editorial.

Several thousand protesters in Mostar stormed two local government buildings and also set fire to the city hall. Police did not intervene.

A young demonstrator in Bihac joked and summed up the distain Bosnians have for the corrupt political class and their nepotism: ‘Why is there no sex in Bosnian government institutions? Because they are all family!’

A homemade placard in Tuzla simply: ‘I don’t work. I’ve come here to destroy the government.’

On Friday, people finally burnt down government buildings in Tuzla. Eyewitnesses have told us that the special riot police took off their helmets and protective clothing and let the demonstrators get on with what they had come to do. Later the police were applauded and handshakes were exchanged with demonstrators.

“I think this is a genuine Bosnian spring. We have nothing to lose. There will be more and more of us in the streets, there are around 550,000 unemployed people in Bosnia,” said Almir Arnaut, an unemployed economist and activist from Tuzla.

In Zenica and Tuzla the politicians in charge of privatisations were forced to resign by the protestors.

Why now? And where now?

Bosnian workers have endured 20 years of misery since the civil war. Twenty years of mass unemployment. Power sharing quotas along ethnic lines has enabled corrupt politicians to enrich themselves in the poorest country in Europe. Workers have been reluctant to struggle for fear of provoking ethnic tensions again. But there is a limit. The privatisations and closures have been the last straw.

There is a yearning for working class unity in Bosnia, which is reflected in the placards and on Facebook. One placard read: ‘ARISE TITO! SEE WHAT YOUR PIONEERS ARE DOING!’ (The ‘Pioniri’ were the Young Communists in the time of Tito).

Also on Facebook there is a photo doing the rounds. Tito is looking at his watch and the caption says: ‘Time to return.’

It is understandable that there is a certain nostalgia for Tito even amongst the youth. Parents tell their kids of the times when everyone had a job, a home and a future to look forward to, despite the dictatorial one-party Stalinist regime which presided over the Yugoslavian planned economy. Capitalism was born in Bosnia through a horrific ethnic civil war and has offered nothing to the Bosnian working class except poverty, corrupt politicians and the threat of further ethnic conflicts.

These are early days in the Bosnian uprising but already the workers and youth are striving for unity. They are united in their utter contempt and hatred for the corrupt government and their hangers on. No political party represents the working class in Bosnia at this time.

It is significant that in Banja Luka, the capital of Bosnia’s Serb half, some 300 activists and citizens staged a peaceful march to call for unity among all Bosnia’s ethnicities.

They said: ‘We are all citizens of Bosnia and we all have the same difficult lives here.”

Activists also demanded:

•Abolition of cantons

•Parliamentarians to give up 50% of their salaries

•Dismissal of the director of PIO FB&H (Government department of pensions and social security)

•An increase pensions to 1.000 BAM (500 Euros)

•Provide work and benefits for the unemployed

•Abolish illegal work and the black market economy

Protesters have also called for re-nationalisation of privatised firms, limiting salaries of officials, against nepotism, and the right to life and education. There are also statements from the police and army veterans.

Workers and socialists around the world salute the Bosnian workers and youth in their struggle against privatisation and corruption and for a better life. This struggle can only be consequently waged with the perspective of a break with capitalism and a struggle for socialist policies based on workers’ democracy. SOLIDARNOST I REVOLUJICA!

[Durruti's friend]

it is very pleasing to follow the developments of this so explicitly left wing, anti-nationalist etc protest movement. It already seems like 2014 has a good chance of becoming a by far better year for the workers movement than 2013 was!
Though the anti-nationalist tone of the protests and the fact that they started as a grassroots workers' movement is great and definitely a breakthrough in the Balkans, there are some problems with where the movement is going. For instance, the citizen's Plenum of Sarajevo has declared yesterday that one of the protests' end goals is forming some sort of a technocratic ("expert") government (link in bosnian here - http://www.avaz.ba/vijesti/teme/sarajevo-zavrsen-plenum-gradjana-sutra-nastavak-protesta-u-12-sati). And I think the renaming of the Plenum from "Workers' and Citizens' plenum" to only "Citizens' plenum" is noteworthy but I could just be nitpicking about that.

It also seems that the anti-nationalism of the Bosnian protests isn't getting through in its surrounding countries. Well, certainly not in Croatia, but the mass media here has been doing a large campaign to make the BiH protests seem like a Bosniak national uprising with no social character, maybe even pointed against Bosnian Croats (because the Croat HDZ party headquarters in Mostar have been burned down; the fact that the SDA building was torched too is seldom mentioned). I guess it's a similar situation in Serbia and in Montenegro. That's more of a problem for the above mentioned countries' leftist movement(s), though.

But it's definitely a good start towards a real workers' movement. Something's changing here, and it's obvious :)

[ckaihatsu]

Bosnia - Protester calls grow for government resignations

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfCI-V3WHGI


Solidarity protests for Bosnia reach neighboring Serbia

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZU1NJ_2KIiA


Bosnia - decades of dissatisfaction flare into protest in Tuzla

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYoocKT_u1Q


Thousands of Bosnians call on regional government to quit

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUqiLAg3gXM

[ckaihatsu]

From the news reports I've seen it looks like the EU is going to try to treat BiH like Ukraine, attempting to make it seem as though the protestors are aiming to sell-out and join-in.

[guy123]

Workers and Youth: Form Popular Councils and Take the Power! Spread the Revolution to the whole Balkan! For a Socialist Federation of the Balkan People!
Statement of the Revolutionary Communist International Tendency (RCIT), 9.2.2014,
1. The worldwide wave of popular uprisings and revolutions has reached Bosnia since February 5. The protesters themselves call it the “Bosnian Spring” referring to the “Arab Spring”. We send our warmest greetings of solidarity to the heroic Bosnian workers and youth who are fighting on the streets against the greedy capitalists and corrupt politicians! Bosnia has been plundered for nearly two decades by imperialist corporations and sleazy native entrepreneurs. They have been assisted by the corrupt caste of politicians which dominate all parties of the Bosniak, Serbian and Croatian communities. The country is occupied by Western imperialists who treat it like a colony. The task is now to transform the spontaneous uprising into an organized revolution. This means that the workers and peasants should overthrow the ruling class and take the power in their own hands. To avoid a derail of the revolution it is urgent that the political advanced workers and youth form a workers’ party based on a revolutionary program.

A brief Overview of the Historical Background

2. In the 1980s the Stalinist system in Yugoslavia entered a terminal crisis. Against this background, the ruling bureaucratic castes of the different republics like Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia were striving to transform themselves into ruling capitalist classes. To keep popular support for this goal, the camouflaged their policy with nationalism. In this, the Serbian bourgeois regime of Slobodan Milošević was the driving force and by the late 1980s it controlled the Yugoslavian federal institutions. It intensified the oppression of the Kosovar Albanians (which were always suppressed by Serbia since their annexation in 1913). It started to oppress also other people of the Yugoslav republic. The Croatian bourgeois regime of Franjo Tuđman copied Milošević’s reactionary chauvinism. Beside the Kosovar Albanians, the Bosnians were the most effected victims of the Serbian (and Croatian) chauvinism.
3. The RCIT (respectively our predecessor organization) always defended the Bosnian people against the genocidal war which was started by the Serbian (and Croatian) nationalist forces in 1992. This war brought unspeakable suffering for the Bosnian Muslims and those Serbs and Croats who resisted the nationalist partition of Bosnia by the Serbian and Croatian chauvinists. According to a report about the war 1992-95 by the head of the Bosnian Delegation to the United Nations in 2008, 200,000 people were killed, 12,000 of them children, up to 50,000 women were raped, and 2.2 million were forced to flee their homes (in a country of about 4 million people)! We denounced the reactionary Bosnian government of Alija Izetbegović which – like the bureaucracies of the other republics – was striving to restore capitalism and which failed to defend the Bosnian people against the chauvinist aggressors. We called for international support for the national liberation war of the Bosnian people and combined this with the perspective of a multi-national workers republic in Bosnia as part of a socialist Balkan federation. We denounced the US and EU imperialists who strangled the Bosnian resistance with an arms embargo and whose UN troops collaborated with the Serbian chauvinists when the butcher General Mladić organized the mass murder of 8.000 Muslim men in Srebrenica in July 1995. We were part of the International Workers Aid campaign delivering medicine, clothes, etc. for the workers in Tuzla and other places. We called for arms and international volunteer brigades for the Bosnian resistance and denounced the NATO bombing campaign in summer 1995 which stopped the Bosnian national liberation forces when they were starting to advance and to take back the areas which they had lost in the first war years. In short, the RCIT stood – in contrast to many pseudo-Marxist groups – for the victory of the Bosnian people and the defeat of reactionary Serbian chauvinists and combined this with the perspective of a socialist Balkan federation.
4. The US and EU imperialists enforced the reactionary Dayton Accord in 1995 on the Bosnians. This accord installed the so-called High Representative and the Office of the High Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina which transformed Bosnia into a colony of the US and the EU. It left 49% of the country under the control of Serbian chauvinist forces. Today the Western imperialists have stationed 900 soldiers (European Union Force Althea) amongst which Austrian imperialism provides the biggest contingent of 300 troops. The RCIT opposed the imperialist interference in Bosnia from the beginning. We call for the expulsion of all imperialist troops and the immediate dissolution of the so-called High Representative and all other foreign institutions which restrict Bosnian’s sovereignty.
5. The colonialization of Bosnia by the imperialist powers is also obvious in the so-called International Criminal Court in The Hague. The Great Powers enforce Bosnia since years to extradite war criminals or alleged war criminals. The RCIT denounces this imperialist colonialism and calls for workers and peasant tribunals in Bosnia – composed of the families and friends of the victims in the genocidal war – to judge over the war criminals.

The Capitalists plundered Bosnia with the help of corrupt Politicians

6. Since then the country has been plundered and impoverished by native and foreign capitalists who were actively helped by corrupt politicians. Today more than 44% of the Bosnians are without a job. About 100,000 old people don’t receive their pensions – including for war veterans who risked their life in the liberation war. The average income for Bosnian workers is 420 Euro per month which is the level of Albania or Namibia. Many live below the official poverty line and suffer from hunger. In many factories, which are the heart of the present uprising, workers have not received their wages for many months or even years. Factories have closed and their owners left the country with full pockets after their workers spent their savings to buy a significant share of “their” enterprise. At the same time many privatizations of state enterprises turn out to be criminal schemas for quick enrichment of greedy capitalists. In this they are helped by the politicians of all parties who enrich themselves in manifold ways. In addition the people are suffering from the “petty corruption” like the policemen or the little bureaucrats who hold out their hand at every opportunity.
7. Unsurprisingly anger and unrest have simmered for long amongst the Bosnian people. For many years they were hold back to take mass actions because their rulers asked them for more time given the devastating effects of the war. But people have seen now that the more time they give their rulers, the worse the situation becomes. The latest wave of privatizations of state enterprises was the trigger for the revolution. The mass strikes and demonstrations started from the Tuzla enterprises Polihem (acid and alkali), DITA (washing powder), Konjuh (wood processor) and Resod-Guming (chemical product makers). The workers there have not received their wages for more than one year and had no health insurance. After these enterprises have been privatized, the owners want to close them now and sack 10.000 workers. The government plans further privatizations of many other state enterprises like Energopetrol, tabacco enterprise FDS in Sarajevo, Bosnalijek, Sarajevo-Insurance, Alumnij in Mostar, Energoinvest and the Steel Factory Zenica. After the workers gave so many sacrifices for years in the hope for a better future, they are now forced to recognize that the bosses and their government destroy the future for the workers and only fill their own pockets. This was the final straw which triggered the uprising. In other words, this is a popular revolution against the effects of the restoration of capitalism in the 1990s.

The Character of Popular Uprising

8. The Bosnian Revolution started in Tuzla. This city of 120,000 people has always been the industrial heart of Bosnia and is the center of the Bosnian working class. It has a multi-ethnical composition. It has a long and proud tradition of class struggle and internationalism. During the Great Miner Strike in Britain in 1984/85 the miners of Tuzla collected money and sent it to their brothers and sisters. British miners returned this favor by initiating the International Workers Aid campaign in 1993. Tuzla was also the heart of the multi-ethnical Bosnian working class resistance against the Serbian chauvinist forces during the liberation war in 1992-95.
9. The Bosnian popular uprising is multi-national, working class, youth and militant. It is multi-national because it encompasses Bosnian Muslim, Serbian and Croatian workers and youth. True, the majority of the workers are Bosnian Muslims. But this is hardly surprising since this community is the biggest in Bosnia (officially 48%) as well as the most urban and proletarian. (The Serbian and Croatian communities have a more rural character.) While its main leader is the Bosnian Muslim worker Aldin Siranovic, the movement has also a Serbian spokeswoman, the economist Svetlana Cenic. The Revolution has already reached Serbian towns like Prijedor. The youth plays a central role in the uprising – similar to all other authentic revolutions. Like in Egypt Revolution and the Turkish Gezi park movement, football fan clubs play an important role in the protests. The movement has also a very militant character as one can see from numerous reports and Youtube videos. The workers and youth have stormed the governmental buildings in many towns and burned them, as well as numerous police cars, down. In Zenica they pushed the cars of the bureaucrats into the river.
10. The movement raises a number of progressive social and democratic demands. They call for the halt of all privatizations and the renationalization of the enterprises which have been already privatized. They call for the payment of their outstanding wages. They demand the punishment of criminal entrepreneurs and corrupt politicians. They call for a limitation of politician’s salaries to 1250 Euro and an end to their parliamentary immunity. They call for the abolishment of the cantonal system.
11. However, as a result of lack of experience and deep hatred against all political parties, they also wrongly call for a “government of experts without party-affiliation” and for “independent courts”. The RCIT draws the attention of the Bosnian workers and youth to the experience of other countries. In Italy for example we saw a “government of experts without party-affiliation” just recently. Such a government might not be dependent of parties but it is deeply in the pocket of the big corporations and the powerful circles of the ruling class. In Italy such a government was the driving force in massive cuts in the social system. Similarly, courts can only be independent of the ruling class and the bourgeois state which pays their salary if they are elected and controlled by the people.
12. The Bosnian Revolution faces the danger of an imperialist intervention. Valentin Inzko, an Austrian diplomat, who is currently serving as the “High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina”, already threatened to send the EU occupation troops against the workers in case the protests turn violent and threaten foreign property. This makes it urgent that the European and international workers movement supports the Bosnian workers and youth and call for the immediate withdrawal of the imperialist occupation forces from Bosnia. It is in this spirit that the RCIT calls for solidarity actions in European cities.

A Program for the Bosnian Revolution

13. The Bosnian Revolution faces several dangers. It is highly spontaneous and lacks the formation of mass organizations to ensure a sustainable character of the movement. Hence there is the danger that the movement might lose steam and retreat soon. Secondly there exists the danger that reactionary politicians might try to divide the movement via inciting nationalist feelings. This is a real danger given the fact that there nearly all Bosnian families have a living memory of the genocidal war. Thirdly it lacks a clear program for power and an authentic communist party prepared for the revolution. The Bosnian masses already saw the terrible effects of such a lack of program and revolutionary leadership in early April 1992: then, hundreds of thousands people of all ethnic origins demonstrated in Sarajevo and stormed the parliament to protest against the threat of a chauvinist war. They had the power in their hands but didn’t know what to do with it. Several days later, the Serbian chauvinists started the genocidal war.
14. The RCIT suggests the following program to the Bosnian workers and youth. It is urgent to form popular councils in the factories and neighborhoods which meet daily. These councils should decide on the urgent issues of the struggle and elect delegates. These delegates should meet for a national congress to decide about the perspective of the uprising. The movement must call for an indefinite general strike to prepare taking the power. The workers should occupy the factories and governmental buildings and take over the production and administration. The factory and neighborhood councils – with the youth in the forefront – should form self-defense units which can later be transformed into popular militias in order to defend the masses against the repressive state apparatus and a possible intervention of the EU occupation troops. It is urgent to stress the multi-national character of the movement and to organize multi-ethnic leadership committees and self-defense units on the basis of open and explicit anti-chauvinism and equality of all Balkan people.
15. Naturally most democratic and social demands deserve the full support of socialists. But the program of the Bosnian Revolution must go further because otherwise the workers and youth will not succeed in their goals. The RCIT proposes that the movement fights for the nationalization of all bigger enterprises – both native and foreign – and banks under the control of the workers in order to avoid any influence by the corrupt politicians. It should demand a public employment and infrastructure program to abolish unemployment and to rebuild the country. In order to finance the rebuilding of the country the masses have to expropriate the small elite of rich capitalists. To counter the politician’s plans for a new constitution, the movement should call for a sovereign Constituent Assembly whose delegates are under control of the electorate. The goal of the uprising should be the overthrow of the capitalist ruling class and the formation of a government of the workers and peasants, based on councils and popular militias of armed masses. Such a government could open the door to a Bosnian Workers and Peasant Republic which could rebuild the country on the basis of a democratically elaborated economic plan.
16. It is urgent to spread the revolution to Bosnia’s neighboring countries and the whole Balkan. In Serbia there have been already calls to join the protests. In Greece the masses are fighting against the capitalist austerity policy since years. In Romania and Bulgaria the masses have also fought on the streets in the recent years. The widespread poverty – a result of the historic crisis of world capitalism – forms the objective basis to unite the struggles of the exploited and oppressed and to fight for a joint future free of imperialist banks and corporations, native capitalists and genocidal generals. This is why the RCIT raises the call for a Socialist Federation of the Balkan People.
17. It is equally important to link the struggle in Bosnia with the world-wide mass protests and revolutions against the imperialist exploiters and reactionary dictators. Bosnia is another link in the chain of just struggles and revolutionary uprisings like the Egyptian masses fighting against the dictatorship of General Sisi, the Palestinian people resisting against the continuous Zionist aggression, the Syrian workers and peasants fighting against the butcher Assad, the South African black workers who launched mass strikes for a living wage or the Brazilian workers and youth fighting against the greedy capitalists and corrupt politicians.
18. Such a program can only be achieved by the organized struggle of the working class, led by a revolutionary workers party in the tradition of Lenin and Trotsky. From the very start, creating such a party must be done in conjunction with the efforts to establish a new World Party of Socialist Revolution. In our opinion, such a new party will be the Fifth Workers’ International. The RCIT calls revolutionaries in Bosnia to unite in an authentic revolutionary organization based on an internationalist and communist program. We look forward to discussing these issues and collaborating with revolutionaries in Bosnia and the whole Balkan, in order to advance the formation of such a revolutionary organization.

[DOOM]

Seems like the protests are dying away.
Let's hope they won't.

[Zukunftsmusik]

Though the anti-nationalist tone of the protests and the fact that they started as a grassroots workers' movement is great and definitely a breakthrough in the Balkans, there are some problems with where the movement is going. For instance, the citizen's Plenum of Sarajevo has declared yesterday that one of the protests' end goals is forming some sort of a technocratic ("expert") government (link in bosnian here - http://www.avaz.ba/vijesti/teme/sarajevo-zavrsen-plenum-gradjana-sutra-nastavak-protesta-u-12-sati).

On the other hand, it's difficult to see what else they should have called for. While it's definitely not ideal, it's better than rallying against the government in power under an ultra-nationalist banner as in Ukraine.


And I think the renaming of the Plenum from "Workers' and Citizens' plenum" to only "Citizens' plenum" is noteworthy but I could just be nitpicking about that.

I would think it depends on under what circumstances the name change appeared. Do you know the reason for this change? Did the change in name correlate in any way with a change in function or content?

[Durruti's friend]

On the other hand, it's difficult to see what else they should have called for. While it's definitely not ideal, it's better than rallying against the government in power under an ultra-nationalist banner as in Ukraine.
It's definitely better. Don't get me wrong, I'm really happy because of the anti-nationalist paroles and goals. What else could they call for? Well, maybe something along the lines of "factories to the workers" or some other thing along those (semi-populist) lines. It's not even an unbelievable claim since the workers who started the riots in Tuzla were protesting because they haven't received a wage in a few months (maybe even a year). A call for workers' control over companies that don't give wages isn't weird, really.

And before someone comes here with "workers' self-management isn't revolutionary", I know it isn't, but these protests won't turn into a revolution anyway, so at least the claims could be as radical as possible for the current situation.


I would think it depends on under what circumstances the name change appeared. Do you know the reason for this change? Did the change in name correlate in any way with a change in function or content? I don't know the reason for the change, but my assumption is that it's populism. The 99% vs. 1% story is still influential here for some reason and class-collaborationism with the petite-bourgeoisie is common when such things come on the stage. What I want to say is that the original organizers of the protests in Bosnia (bar Tuzla, where they started as a union strike) adhere to the 99% shit and the word "citizens" is better for getting the "middle class" in action, so to speak.

The plenum's function didn't change a lot methinks, they were made up as an organ of directing and planning further struggle(s) from the beginning. Now, maybe the first few plenum's decisions were more radical, but I don't know what exactly was decided on those. The media, even the alternative ones, were mostly just hyped up because there are people's assemblies and direct democracy (something unseen since the student blockades a few years ago, I believe) and kinda forgot to report about actual discussions. But they didn't really change and that's why I say I'm nitpicking about that.

---

Also, some photos from a support rally that took place in Zagreb yesterday. Only a couple hundred people attended but even that is fine if you take its clearly internationalist tone in consideration. It might seem like escapism but not a lot more can be done right now in any way.

http://www.h-alter.org/vijesti/hrvatska/podrska-raji-u-bih-fotogalerija2

The banners say "One working class - one common struggle" and "No to war between nations, no to peace between classes.

Edit - another plenum was arranged, this time in Mostar. Its proclamations seem more radical than the Sarajevo ones, maybe something will come out of that :)

http://www.abrasmedia.info/content/uspje%C5%A1no-odr%C5%BEan-plenum-gra%C4%91ana-i-gra%C4%91anki-u-mostaru

[Greek Warrior]

Tito could have never imagined that after he is gone, beautiful Yugoslavia would end up like this.
I hope the revolt escalates.

[Zukunftsmusik]

Haven't seen this posted here: What's up with Bosnia? (http://insurgentnotes.com/2014/02/whats-up-with-bosnia/) (written by, if I'm not horribly mistaken, a former user). It's a good run-down of the events, its possibilities and limitations, and the writer (correctly) expresses skepticism, as Durruti's Friend in this thread, towards the plenums.

[Zukunftsmusik]

Here's a website with translated articles, documents and so on about the protests: http://bhprotestfiles.wordpress.com/

[ckaihatsu]

Though the anti-nationalist tone of the protests and the fact that they started as a grassroots workers' movement is great and definitely a breakthrough in the Balkans, there are some problems with where the movement is going. For instance, the citizen's Plenum of Sarajevo has declared yesterday that one of the protests' end goals is forming some sort of a technocratic ("expert") government (link in bosnian here - http://www.avaz.ba/vijesti/teme/sarajevo-zavrsen-plenum-gradjana-sutra-nastavak-protesta-u-12-sati). And I think the renaming of the Plenum from "Workers' and Citizens' plenum" to only "Citizens' plenum" is noteworthy but I could just be nitpicking about that.


I didn't catch this initially, but wouldn't the combination of these two developments be the beginning of the 'downslope' -- ?

Workers who want to de-privatize (nationalize) businesses that haven't paid wages shouldn't be looking to a *technocratic* formation, because that's just substitutionist for actual workers' initiatives themselves.

And the renaming of the plenum to remove the term 'workers' isn't encouraging, either.

[Zukunftsmusik]

I didn't catch this initially, but wouldn't the combination of these two developments be the beginning of the 'downslope' -- ?

Workers who want to de-privatize (nationalize) businesses that haven't paid wages shouldn't be looking to a *technocratic* formation, because that's just substitutionist for actual workers' initiatives themselves.

And the renaming of the plenum to remove the term 'workers' isn't encouraging, either.

I think this is exactly what Durruti's Friend is getting at, and it's what the Insurgent Notes article I posted suggests as well.

[Durruti's friend]

I didn't catch this initially, but wouldn't the combination of these two developments be the beginning of the 'downslope' -- ?

Workers who want to de-privatize (nationalize) businesses that haven't paid wages shouldn't be looking to a *technocratic* formation, because that's just substitutionist for actual workers' initiatives themselves.

And the renaming of the plenum to remove the term 'workers' isn't encouraging, either.
Yeah, that's exactly what I was trying to say. The original demands put forward by the Tuzla workers were quite radical, but the plenums are now mostly going for pretty useless or even counterproductive stuff like the already mentioned creation of an expert government and calling for strictly peaceful protests.

The plenums have by now spread to a big part of BiH, especially throughout the Federation. They still serve a certain purpose as they can pressure local (kanton) governments into making some reforms. The Cazin county assembly has approved of most local plenum decisions, like the decrease of water prices and limiting salaries for directors in state-run enterprises.

The main problem is that there's no organized leftist movement to push radical ideas in the plenum assemblies.

---

War veterans are protesting in Banja Luka during the last few days. Their demands are mostly for more "social justice", meaning better living conditions. Other non-veteran people also joined the protests. Milorad Dodik, president of Republika Srpska, is now accusing the veterans of being in service of foreign forces trying to undermine RS.

[Zukunftsmusik]

The main problem is that there's no organized leftist movement to push radical ideas in the plenum assemblies.

At least this (http://bhprotestfiles.wordpress.com/2014/02/23/tuzla-citizens-plenum-discusses-demands-of-workers-from-failed-firms/)is a little uplifting. Though I have no idea what got out of it.

[Durruti's friend]

At least this (http://bhprotestfiles.wordpress.com/2014/02/23/tuzla-citizens-plenum-discusses-demands-of-workers-from-failed-firms/)is a little uplifting. Though I have no idea what got out of it.
Oh, didn't even notice that happening. I'll search a little and post here if I find out what decisions were made on the plenum.

[cyu]

The original demands put forward by the Tuzla workers were quite radical, but the plenums are now mostly going for pretty useless or even counterproductive stuff


Capitalists aren't just going to let their money sit idle when leftists go active =]

[Zukunftsmusik]

Capitalists aren't just going to let their money sit idle when leftists go active =]

what does this have to do with the matter at hand?

[bropasaran]

Seems to me that protests were pretty much a failure, having in mind that there was no participation from the Serb side, and no radical voices, that is, no radical demands, only soft reformist ones.

[cyu]

what does this have to do with the matter at hand?

When your own ideology and its backers are generally being ignored, if you have the resources, you can throw your money behind members of the opposition that you believe are weak, crazed, or would generally hurt the movement more than they help.

See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entryism

[Zukunftsmusik]

When your own ideology and its backers are generally being ignored, if you have the resources, you can throw your money behind members of the opposition that you believe are weak, crazed, or would generally hurt the movement more than they help.

Sure, but I don't think that's exactly what's going on here, though.